


The Louvre

by elfesteem



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Background Relationships, I Tried, M/M, also dotae, enjoy i guess, felix is mentioned once (1), mark has dyslexia, norenmin bc i love them a Lot, really soft, supportive hyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfesteem/pseuds/elfesteem
Summary: I overthink your punctuation usenot my fault, just a thing that my mind do.





	The Louvre

**Author's Note:**

> once again, English is not my first language so bear w/ me
> 
> i did some research on dyslexia but if anything's not accurate please be sure to let me know and i'll fix it !
> 
> title and summary from the song [The Louvre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQkdwymDanE) by Lorde
> 
> inspired by my actual obsession on grammar, oops

The sun filters through the classroom's window, bathing Donghyuck with its warm light. He slowly opens his eyes and starts to look around the class. He can see  some of his classmates taking notes of what their teacher was saying, others were half asleep and others were chatting quietly among themselves. Donghyuck closes his eyes again and sighs, there were 15 minutes left of lecture and he was  _ still  _ wondering what made him choose Advanced Grammar when he already was good at that; his writing was perfect and he  _ never _ made any misspelling. His father said that it was because he reads a lot, which is true, but Donghyuck thinks that having a good  base is also important.

“Lee Donghyuck, could you have the decency of not sleep in my class?” The teacher calls him out and he can hear Felix snickering behind him, he chooses to ignore him.

“Yes Miss, sorry Miss.” He answers quickly and grabs his ball pen, pretending to write on his notebook. Miss Kim gives him one last glance before turning to the blackboard again.

Donghyuck puts down his pen but it rolls off the table and it falls before he can catch it, suddenly the boy next to him bends down and grabs it, passing it to Donghyuck, who mumbles a ‘thank you’. That’s when he notices that hadn’t seen this boy before and discretely observes him. He is cute ( _ really _ cute, but Donghyuck wasn’t going to admit that) and seemed slightly older than him and a little awkward. He kept scrunching up his nose to push up his glasses, something Donghyuck found endearing. He was writing furiously and Donghyuck, being the curious brat he was, takes a peek to what was on the notebook, and that’s when he realizes something.

“You should put a comma before  _ achi-  _ wait, that’s not how you write ‘achieve’.” Donghyuck frowns, getting closer the notebook and looking at it. From the corner of his eye he can see the boy blushing and ducking down his head in shame.

Donghyuck had already grabbed a hold of the notebook and his eyes analyzed the page.

“Dude, you have a shi-  _ a lot  _ of misspellings.” Says Donghyuck genuinely concerned, because how could this boy, who had to be at least 17 years old, have those kind of errors? 

Apart from not being almost any commas, he found words like ‘forward’ as ‘foward’ or ‘which’ as ‘wich’. The boy, whose name he didn’t know yet, snatched the notebook from his hands and held it close to his chest without even looking at Donghyuck. Just then the bell rings, signaling the end of the class, the teacher dismisses everyone and the boy quickly gets up and starts to pack his things but before he could go Donghyuck grabs gently his arm and the boy stops on his tracks, backpack hung loosely from his shoulder and turns slowly, eyes soft and a little shiny.

“I- Um- What’s your name?” Asks Donghyuck releasing his grip.

“Mark. Mark Lee.” 

“Pleased to meet you, Mark. I’m Donghyuck. Lee Donghyuck ”

The boy just nods briefly and Donghyuck carries on.

“Are you a junior or senior?”

“Senior.” Answers Mark.

Ah so, Donghyuck’s guessing had been right, Mark  _ is _ older than him.

After a few seconds of just staring to each other, Donghyuck speaks again.

“So.. about the misspellings, I could.. help you with it. Only if you want, of course.”

Mark doesn’t answer immediately and Donghyuck starts to overthink because  _ what the fuck was he thinking asking that to a boy he barely knows after telling him so rud- _

His thoughts are interrupted when Mark speaks.

“I’d.. really like that, thank you so much, it is really nice of you.”

It’s now Donghyuck’s turn to blush as he answers that it’s really no problem, while awkwardly scratching his nape.

“We can meet in the library at lunch, if that’s okay with you.” He says.

Mark nods and tells him that he’ll be there, at the table at the end of Corridor 7. He then leaves with a small wave and a little smile on his face and the only thing that Donghyuck can think when he’s left alone is how  _ whipped  _ he is.

 

☾ ☼

 

When he meets up with Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun at the end of History and tells them he won’t be eating lunch with them, Jaemin narrows his eyes and simply says, “Spill.”

Donghyuck sighs defeated because they know him too well.

“Mark Lee?!” Exclaims Jeno, almost tripping over nothing while the four of them walk down the corridor to their next class.

Donghyuck frowns because he's never really heard that name before but the other three look at him like it’s a crime not knowing of him.

“Yeah? What about him?”

“Man, he’s Lee Taeyong’s little brother, y’know, the super hot one that was a senior when we were freshmen? Doyoung hyung’s boyfriend.” Says Renjun, Jeno nodding eagerly at the name of his older brother. Donghyuck makes a sound of recognition before saying, “He has a little brother? Didn’t have a clue, really.”

“He spent his freshman and sophomore years studying in Canada and came back for his junior and senior, maybe that’s why you haven’t heard of him. We only really know him because of Doyoung hyung but we’ve never really talked to him.” Says Jaemin and Donghyuck just hums.

They’ve already reached to their class and they quickly go to their seats. It is the longest hour in Donghyuck’s entire high school life and when it’s finally over packs away his things, he’s about to exit in direction to the library when Jaemin pops up in front of him, a big and knowing smile on his face and thumbs up on display. Donghyuck just rolls his eyes before turning back and screaming at Renjun and Jeno to come and collect their boyfriend before walking past Jaemin, who smacks him on the back of the neck. He laughs while turning round the corner.

 

☾ ☼

 

Mark’s already there when he arrives, scrolling through his phone and when he sees Donghyuck he puts it away and smiles, telling him to come. Donghyuck sits across him and once again there is an awkward silence in which they just stare at each other, it’s Mark who breaks it, though.

“So, how should we do this?”

“Well, first I need to know why do you have those misspellings like, is it because you don’t realize it or-”

“I have dyslexia.”

Ok, that wasn’t what Donghyuck was expecting to hear. He tries to open up his mouth and say something but he ends up looking like a fish gasping for air so he decides to shut his mouth.

Seeing Donghyuck’s silence, Mark continues, “It’s not really that severe and with some help and exercises it can actually not bother me that much. Usually my brother helps me, but he’s at college and I don’t want to bother him so I’ve tried to do the exercises on my own but it’s just not really working, as you have already seen.”

“That.. makes sense.” Is the only thing Donghyuck can answer.

“Yeah. One of the activities I usually do is completing words with its corresponding syllabus, it is also recommended to try and read, but I  _ hate _ to read with a burning passion.”

Donghyuck reacts quickly at this.

“Dude, reading is one of the bests ways to improve grammar and stuff like that.”

“I know that but-” Mark sighs in frustration, carding his hands through his hair, “It’s really hard to concentrate when you just don’t know if a word is written correctly or you spend a minute, maybe even more, trying to figure out a word, sometimes they don’t even make any sense. It tires me out mentally.”

Donghyuck doesn’t really know a lot about dyslexia but he tries to think of a way to help Mark. He then has an idea.

“Do you like to write?”

“I- Yes?”

“And I suppose that by doing so on paper you usually make mistakes, am I right?” Asks Donghyuck.

“Right.” Answers Mark. “Where are you going with this?”

“Have you ever tried doing it on the computer?”

“Of course I’ve tried, with the autocorrect everything is much easier but I still have to take my tests on paper so that really isn’t useful.” Mark pouts and Donghyuck stares at his lips before slapping himself mentally.

“Ok but you could write your assignments and homework on your computer and then copy it into paper, that way you can see what your mistakes are and note them down, try to be familiar with them so when you’re writing you can have it easier to recognize some of them.”

Mark stares at him with amusement, “That’s.. actually a really good idea, Hyuck!”

Donghyuck tries to ignore how the nickname makes him feel and gives Mark one of his 200% smiles. He fails to notice the way Mark’s cheeks get a little red.

“Should we try it now? Do you have your computer with you?” Asks Donghyuck.

Marks pulls his laptop out of his backpack and as soon as it’s on he opens a new Document.

“What are you going to write about?”

“The Louvre.” Simply answers Mark and Donghyuck is a little taken aback by the answer, “The Louvre? As in the museum?”

“Yes dumbass, the museum, what else could it be?” Says Mark playfully, already beginning to type.

“Why it?” Asks Donghyuck out of curiosity.

“Because I love art, and the paintings there are absolutely amazing.”

Donghyuck hums and asks again, “Do you paint?”

Marks smiles so brightly that Donghyuck is sure he just outshone the sun.

“I do paint, I’ve been painting since I was little, because it gave me a way to express myself without having to use words. I love going to museums and I’d love to go to The Louvre or El Prado. I’m saving up to go to Europe and visit every museum I can.”

Donghyuck just watches and listens with amusement how happy Mark is talking about what he loves and it reminds him of himself when someone asks him about his singing.

“You’ll have to show me some art of yours, then.” Is what he chooses to say.

Mark snorts but nods, “Consider it done, Hyuck.”

“You’d get on  _ so _ well with my friend Renjun. He also loves art and he paints as well.” 

“Oh! I know Renjun, he’s in my Art class. He’s also the boyfriend of Doyoung hyung’s little brother.. Jeno, was it? And they also have another boyfriend, I can’t remember his name though. I really like them. Are you friends with them?” Asks Mark, still typing.

Donghyuck just gapes and he swears he’s going to kill the three of them when he sees them again because  _ how could they _

“It’s Jaemin, his name’s Jaemin. The one you didn’t remember. And yes, I’m friends with them, been since our diapers days.” Answers Donghyuck.

“Wow, crazy how the world works, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.”

_ They are so dead _ , is everything Donghyuck can think about but pushes the thought aside and optes for asking Mark which is his favourite painting of The Louvre.

It is ‘The Barque of Dante’ by Eugène Delacroix.

By the end of lunch time they both have each other's number and they both go happier than ever to home that day.

(Donghyuck not without stopping over at Jeno’s and giving his best friends what they deserve.)

 

☾ ☼

 

Four months later, Mark comes running and embraces Donghyuck on a big hug. When he finally calms down, he excitedly tells Donghyuck how he only had four mistakes on his Literature essay and how his teacher had congratulated him for it.

Donghyuck couldn’t be prouder of his boyfriend, because Mark had really put  _ a lot _ of effort into improving, he is even starting to read again (always about art, but baby steps). Donghyuck promises to treat him out for ice cream when the classes are over. Mark kisses him and goes running down the hallway, jumping. Donghyuck just chuckles at how cute and childish Mark is sometimes, but he (absolutely) loves him.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for taking the time to read this absolute mess, love u


End file.
